Zalgiris Kaunas falls in Lithuanian Cup final 66
Zalgiris Kaunas had one of the worst shooting nights in the final of the Lithuanian Cup on Sunday. Lithuanian champions lost to Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 57-67 allowing the opponents to get any trophy after a five-year drought.
After a 17-17 tie in the first quarter, Rytas held the lead the rest of the way by dominating the boards and harassing Zalgiris into bad shooting. Antanas Kavaliauskas was the big gun for Rytas with 20 points and 7 rebounds, while Mindaugas Lukauskis added 11 points. Kavaliauskas led Rytas to a 47-22 advantage in rebounding.
Only Martynas Pocius, with 13 pionts, and Paulius Jankunas, with 12, could reach double digits for Zalgiris, the defending cup champion, which suffered from 18-for-55 field goal shooting on the night.
Brock Motum and Lukas Lekavicius put Zalgiris ahead early before a 2-10 run by Rytas put the hosts ahead 9-15. Zalgiris would tie it up 17-17 on a triple by Pocius, but Rytas answered with another run of 0-10 that paved the way to a 21-29 advantage. The Zalgiris defense would blank the hosts for the last 5 minutes of the second quarter, but only Renaldas Seibutis could do any scoring and Rytas still lead by 6 points, 23-29, at the half.
With the Zalgiris shooters cold, Rytas launched another run of 2-9 after the break for a high lead of 25-38. Motum and Pocius got the visitors back within 33-41, but Rytas still held the upper hand after 30 minutes, 39-47, thanks in large part to a whopping 19-38 advantage in rebounds at that point.
The fourth quarter started with yet another Rytas rush of 0-8, giving the hosts full control of the scoreboard at 39-55. The difference would hit a high of 42-59 and it was all that Zalgiris could do from that point to reduce it to the final margin of 10 points.
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